Inspiration 1955

Ossip Zadkine’s *Inspiration* is a watercolor, gouache, and ink work that seems to have emerged in shifting, intuitive movements. I can feel Zadkine feeling his way through each wash of color, each line, each compositional relationship. I imagine Zadkine in the throes of creative uncertainty. Maybe he had the sense that something was there, but not quite. Maybe he started with the cello player, a heavy presence. Then a need for depth, a darkness. He might have been thinking about the Old Masters and their somber lighting, then he added some strange color and funky geometry to the table in the lower left. It feels like a brave push and pull between representation and pure abstraction, the kind of struggle I know well in my own studio. I see echoes of Picasso and Braque, but rendered with Zadkine's unique blend of sculptural form and painterly touch. It’s the kind of conversation between artists across time that I find so, well, inspiring.